Laguna Terrace bidding set to wrap up

Laguna Terrace Park mobile home owners and residents are hoping to learn soon whether their bid to buy the park property is accepted.

Officials of the nonprofit Laguna Terrace Assn. believe the bidding is due to close at the end of November, according to President Gary Skeen.

“We have been a long time trying to get to this point,” Skeen said. “We have to be optimistic that we will be successful in our endeavor.”

Skeen declined to give a figure for the bid. He said pending litigation and the California Coastal Commission position that it has appeal jurisdiction over the property may discourage some buyers.

Association members were in the process of trying to buy the land on which their mobile homes stood when park owner Steve Esslinger died earlier this year and the property was put on the market.

The conversion of the resident-ownership was Esslinger’s intent when he went to the city in 2010 with an application to subdivide the property. The city approved a vesting tentative tract map that city officials opined was not appealable to the California Coastal Commission.

The commission determined that it did have appellant jurisdiction. Laguna Terrace Park LLC took the matter to court, but lost in a ruling in July of 2011.

An appeal is still unresolved.

“Everything is still pretty much up in the air,” said mobile home owner Peggy Ford. “But I am not feeling optimistic about our chances. A park in Capo Beach sold for $100 million and it only had 90 units.”

Laguna Terrace Park sits on 20 acres, with 158 home sites, some owner-occupied, some rented. Amenities include a clubhouse, pool, spa and vast ocean views.

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